I've let this blog hang around, dead, for too long. Time to get back to posting. I know I have no followers, no viewers, but I'm gonna write this stuff up anyway. I gotta have someplace to put these words and ideas.
For some time I've had 3 different RPG ideas in the back of my head, all in various stages of completion. The latest is YAFG, Yet Another Fantasy Game. I've been mulling over it for some time. I feel like I've been inspired by the Old School movement so championed by James Maliszewski, Rob Conley, Jeff Rients, and so many others. Unlike them, however, I don't necessarily have a strong drive to play OD&D or AD&D. Rather, I want to make something different. Inspired by the original perhaps, not too mechanically distant, but holding to certain ideals.
These ideals are:
Simplicity - This doesn't mean the RPG wears a dunce cap. It doesn't mean players aren't put in complicated situations. It doesn't mean a little interpretation of the rules and of situations won't be necessary here and there. It just means that I don't want people to get so bogged down in the rules that it becomes a game for lawyers only. Simplicity is about tracking fewer, rather than many, numbers, and having to be aware of only so many intersections of various rules. That doesn't mean there will be One Rule to Rule them All or that I intend to dumb down the experience.
Randomness - This comes up often in discussions about the Old School movement. There needs to be some element of chance, and not just rolling to hit. Some have claimed that random world creation and random encounters are what help keep it fun for the GM, and that this fosters emergent storytelling as opposed to pre-written. Well, there's nothing in this game which will prevent any group from playing out the novel in the GMs head, the one that just never got put down in print. That said, random character stats, certain random world elements, and random treasures and rewards, along with the turn of the die for hitting things will certainly be acknowledged and included.
Deadliness - This is probably the most criticized aspect of Old School games and opinions are varied, communities split, and emotions high. This is not a video game where all the enemies level with you. It's a big world, and there are things much bigger and badder than you out there. That doesn't mean success for the GM is a Total Party Kill first adventure out on level 1. It does mean that adventuring has risks, and not all first level players will survive. If a GM wants to pander to his players, by all means. The tools will be there to do so, but this game will be written and designed to encourage players and GMs to take risks, and to tie rewards to those risks. I forget which of my favorite bloggers (probably Maliszewski, but I can't be sure) planted this idea in my head, but it goes like this: 1st level characters don't have lots of back story. They start out blank slates. If they die early, oh well. Higher level characters are much less likely to die, however. Even 2nd level improves survivability dramatically. And after you've played the character a while a personality and a history starts to emerge. It makes it easier to let go of the 1st level failures and helps the surviving characters become more than an exercise in simply leveling up a character already fully formed in the players' heads.
Improvisation - I will not be creating rules for every single fiddly situation possible. The GM, at some point, will be expected to apply common sense and, in concert with the player, make things up as the group encounters difficult situations. Anyone who tries to play fully constrained by the rules will find the game lacking. That's because I have little interest in modeling an entire world in terms of complex rules. The rules are an operational framework to which constant exceptions must be made. You know, like real life.
Classes - Yup. No GURPS-style build-a-character here. You pick a class and that largely defines your abilities. Well, your rule-bound abilities, anyway. As a player you can have your character attempt almost anything you want, and if it's not in the rules the GM will decide what is reasonable.
Fun - This should really be at the beginning, and it's an extension of many things. I want this to be fun for the right people. I don't know how to make fun for everyone, so I'm trying for my own ideas of fun and working from there. If I can make something I would enjoy I'm betting others out there may enjoy it as well.
I have some mechanics I want to throw out and I will do that next post. I'm well into my pit of ideas and I'm up to my armpits in options, none of which are perfect, but some of which, in the right combination, will be good enough.
But that's enough for now.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Friday, April 3, 2009
PC Project - part deux (2) - Castles and Crusades and an intro to the SRD and D20
This character will be for a game called Castles and Crusades. Castles and Crusades takes a shot at old school gaming feel (ala Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 1st edition) using an updated, simplified rule set. Setting information is absent from the Players Handbook, ostensibly leaving room for the Game Master (GM) to create their own. The classes the characters can choose from all harken back to AD&D 1E, as do the races. This game is effectively D&D 3.0 taking on AD&D 1E. It nets the D&D 3-style mechanics thanks to use of the SRD. But before we jump into the character, let's get some background to what makes C&C possible: the SRD.
When Dungeons and Dragons went 3.0, Wizards of the Coast (WoTC), and by extension the new owners Hasbro, took a new path. In times past TSR published setting after setting and adventure module after adventure module for the different D&D versions while suing anyone else who wanted to do the same. WoTC recognized that this could be a problem for them. The market needed these settings and these adventures to keep D&D popular, but WoTC didn't want to take the sole financial risk. Instead, early on WoTC focused on the core rules and key potentially profitable settings. They licensed "lesser" settings and adventure publishing rights to other companies: for example, White Wolf licensed Ravenloft.
WoTC also developed the OGL (Open Gaming License) and the SRD (System Resource Documentation). When WoTC redesigned D&D they created a core mechanic underlying key character roles and called it D20. The D20 mechanic refers to the interplay of character ability scores, saving throws, and skills with the roll of a d20 (20-sided die). The SRD is a document of many of the core mechanics and principles underlying D&D, including the D20 mechanics, and governed by the OGL. The OGL allows other companies, under varying terms, to use the D20 mechanics and some of the basic, core content of the D&D games, to make other games and resources which may or may not ultimately be compatible or similar. Use of the D&D logo or statements of open compatibility with D&D required extra licensing, I believe, but generic SRD compatibility, which became synonymous with at least marginal compatibility with D&D, was free for the taking as long as you contributed some of your rules back to the system under the OGL. It was a give and take. Use the SRD under the OGL and give your modifications back under the OGL, thus the Open in OGL.
Where am I going with this? Castles and Crusades uses the OGL and the SRD to achieve a streamlined, D20 play feel but strips out a lot of the complexity in an attempt to get old school RPG feel (dungeon delving and the like) with a cleaner rules set. In this goal they appear to have succeeded. I haven't managed to play a game yet, but the rules seem clean, clear, and simple, if a little plain in places. What's not to like about a classic fantasy game that harkens back to Gary Gygax's style of play?
On to the character. I will apologize. I rerolled his abilities when my first roll turned out to be a total dud (seriously, I doubt any GM would have made me stick with those stats, save the cruel ones). C&C uses a roll 3d6 method. No extra dice, no extra rolls. My rerolled stats would be considered a bit on the good side; sort of a complete opposite to my original rolls.
This fellow's name is Lifmaar Hillbottom. He's a Halfling Assassin. This is an unusual career choice for a Halfling as they are generally agreeable types. He has low strength but his other characteristics are pretty good. His class choice limits him in armor selection and, though the book doesn't seem to go into any detail about this, his size (3 ft tall, average for a Halfling) limits his weapon choices as well. Odd thing for the book to neglect. That's what it gets for not having an index. I don't care if it's only 130 pages long. I didn't go into his items or anything like that, but one should assume he's likely to have access to various poisons, especially considering one of his weapons (blowpipe). Lifmaar is all about avoiding direct conflict and, instead, killing or incapacitating discreetly. It will likely be a problem if he every achieves any sort of reputation as Halfling assassins are likely uncommon, meaning people may be wary. C&C lets you choose "prime" states which improve your saves. I chose his to be DEX and INT, naturally. He must be quick and intelligent to survive in this business. Find his character sheet below. Click on it to see it larger.
For those who read this far, if I can muster the energy and time, the next character will be for Arcana Unearthed/Arcana Evolved, by Monte Cook and Malhavoc Press. Incredible awesome stuff, but also very complex. This is what ensures I will probably never be able to play it.
When Dungeons and Dragons went 3.0, Wizards of the Coast (WoTC), and by extension the new owners Hasbro, took a new path. In times past TSR published setting after setting and adventure module after adventure module for the different D&D versions while suing anyone else who wanted to do the same. WoTC recognized that this could be a problem for them. The market needed these settings and these adventures to keep D&D popular, but WoTC didn't want to take the sole financial risk. Instead, early on WoTC focused on the core rules and key potentially profitable settings. They licensed "lesser" settings and adventure publishing rights to other companies: for example, White Wolf licensed Ravenloft.
WoTC also developed the OGL (Open Gaming License) and the SRD (System Resource Documentation). When WoTC redesigned D&D they created a core mechanic underlying key character roles and called it D20. The D20 mechanic refers to the interplay of character ability scores, saving throws, and skills with the roll of a d20 (20-sided die). The SRD is a document of many of the core mechanics and principles underlying D&D, including the D20 mechanics, and governed by the OGL. The OGL allows other companies, under varying terms, to use the D20 mechanics and some of the basic, core content of the D&D games, to make other games and resources which may or may not ultimately be compatible or similar. Use of the D&D logo or statements of open compatibility with D&D required extra licensing, I believe, but generic SRD compatibility, which became synonymous with at least marginal compatibility with D&D, was free for the taking as long as you contributed some of your rules back to the system under the OGL. It was a give and take. Use the SRD under the OGL and give your modifications back under the OGL, thus the Open in OGL.
Where am I going with this? Castles and Crusades uses the OGL and the SRD to achieve a streamlined, D20 play feel but strips out a lot of the complexity in an attempt to get old school RPG feel (dungeon delving and the like) with a cleaner rules set. In this goal they appear to have succeeded. I haven't managed to play a game yet, but the rules seem clean, clear, and simple, if a little plain in places. What's not to like about a classic fantasy game that harkens back to Gary Gygax's style of play?
On to the character. I will apologize. I rerolled his abilities when my first roll turned out to be a total dud (seriously, I doubt any GM would have made me stick with those stats, save the cruel ones). C&C uses a roll 3d6 method. No extra dice, no extra rolls. My rerolled stats would be considered a bit on the good side; sort of a complete opposite to my original rolls.
This fellow's name is Lifmaar Hillbottom. He's a Halfling Assassin. This is an unusual career choice for a Halfling as they are generally agreeable types. He has low strength but his other characteristics are pretty good. His class choice limits him in armor selection and, though the book doesn't seem to go into any detail about this, his size (3 ft tall, average for a Halfling) limits his weapon choices as well. Odd thing for the book to neglect. That's what it gets for not having an index. I don't care if it's only 130 pages long. I didn't go into his items or anything like that, but one should assume he's likely to have access to various poisons, especially considering one of his weapons (blowpipe). Lifmaar is all about avoiding direct conflict and, instead, killing or incapacitating discreetly. It will likely be a problem if he every achieves any sort of reputation as Halfling assassins are likely uncommon, meaning people may be wary. C&C lets you choose "prime" states which improve your saves. I chose his to be DEX and INT, naturally. He must be quick and intelligent to survive in this business. Find his character sheet below. Click on it to see it larger.
For those who read this far, if I can muster the energy and time, the next character will be for Arcana Unearthed/Arcana Evolved, by Monte Cook and Malhavoc Press. Incredible awesome stuff, but also very complex. This is what ensures I will probably never be able to play it.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
More on D&D 3/3.5 - making up for short shrift
So, in my first actual character post of this creating a PC for every game project, I think I gave short shrift to D&D 3/3.5. I feel like I should say more about the games I'm creating characters for, even the games everyone and their uncle knows.
Dungeons & Dragons is the most known, most sold, and most played tabletop role-playing game around. Their latest revision came out last year: 4th Edition. I don't have that so I won't be creating a character for it. D&D has a long history, the longest among RPGs, and has held the spot of top dog since inception. Sure, it's less difficult to stay top dog when you're pretty much the founding game of the genre and have always been the top dog, but despite some flaws D&D does have other reasons for being so popular. In almost every revision there's been a balance of simplicity and complexity that makes it relatively easy for new players to start playing and keeps them interested and advancing their game skills as they play. Further, especially these days, they have some of the highest production values in the industry, with high-quality color printed books, mostly hardbound.
No RPG is perfect and D&D, in every form, is no exception. In its Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition form it almost killed tabletop roleplaying games altogether, ala Atari and the video games crash of 1983. AD&D 2E wasn't responsible, but TSR's unrelenting releases of books, supplements, and games during the later years, particularly games with inadequate markets, combined with increasing paper and printing costs, almost killed the premier producer of RPG products. Wizards of the Coast (of Magic: The Gathering fame) bought TSR (and D&D with it) and attempted to revive the product line by releasing D&D 3rd Edition shortly after being bought by Hasbro (due, likely, to the success of the collectible card games Magic: TG and Pokemon and a patent on collectible card games). Both simpler and more complex, D&D 3.0 was really the first major changes D&D had seen in roughly 13 years. 3 years later 3.0 was revised and re-released as D&D 3.5. For old-school players of D&D who are keeping score, 3.5 is to 3.0 as AD&D 2E is to the original AD&D. Well, roughly, anyway.
D&D 3 and 3.5 saved D&D, after a fashion, and injected some new life into the RPG industry, because as TSR was failing the industry saw other changes as well. FASA, makers of the then popular Shadowrun and Battletech RPGs, and also an independent game software developer, was bought by Microsoft, largely so MS could make games based off their properties. FASA disappeared from role-playing games and their properties, at least in RPG form, were apportioned out to other companies. Their games have never been as popular since. White Wolf, makers of the World of Darkness games Vampire, Werewolf, and Mage, were also, at the time, major competitors with TSR. The rise of LARPing (Live Action Role Playing) and increased interest in the more modern "romantic" image of vampires and the supernatural fed White Wolf's initial popularity, but when a titan stumbles all feel the shock.
The new D&D is (this is true of 4th edition and was true of 3/3.5), in all likelihood, more popular than its closest competitors by probably a greater margin than ever. In this sense it's pretty much the standard.
So there's your background. I'll be more brief for future games, I promise, but I felt I needed to explain the game to help flesh out the character to go with it.
Dungeons & Dragons is the most known, most sold, and most played tabletop role-playing game around. Their latest revision came out last year: 4th Edition. I don't have that so I won't be creating a character for it. D&D has a long history, the longest among RPGs, and has held the spot of top dog since inception. Sure, it's less difficult to stay top dog when you're pretty much the founding game of the genre and have always been the top dog, but despite some flaws D&D does have other reasons for being so popular. In almost every revision there's been a balance of simplicity and complexity that makes it relatively easy for new players to start playing and keeps them interested and advancing their game skills as they play. Further, especially these days, they have some of the highest production values in the industry, with high-quality color printed books, mostly hardbound.
No RPG is perfect and D&D, in every form, is no exception. In its Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition form it almost killed tabletop roleplaying games altogether, ala Atari and the video games crash of 1983. AD&D 2E wasn't responsible, but TSR's unrelenting releases of books, supplements, and games during the later years, particularly games with inadequate markets, combined with increasing paper and printing costs, almost killed the premier producer of RPG products. Wizards of the Coast (of Magic: The Gathering fame) bought TSR (and D&D with it) and attempted to revive the product line by releasing D&D 3rd Edition shortly after being bought by Hasbro (due, likely, to the success of the collectible card games Magic: TG and Pokemon and a patent on collectible card games). Both simpler and more complex, D&D 3.0 was really the first major changes D&D had seen in roughly 13 years. 3 years later 3.0 was revised and re-released as D&D 3.5. For old-school players of D&D who are keeping score, 3.5 is to 3.0 as AD&D 2E is to the original AD&D. Well, roughly, anyway.
D&D 3 and 3.5 saved D&D, after a fashion, and injected some new life into the RPG industry, because as TSR was failing the industry saw other changes as well. FASA, makers of the then popular Shadowrun and Battletech RPGs, and also an independent game software developer, was bought by Microsoft, largely so MS could make games based off their properties. FASA disappeared from role-playing games and their properties, at least in RPG form, were apportioned out to other companies. Their games have never been as popular since. White Wolf, makers of the World of Darkness games Vampire, Werewolf, and Mage, were also, at the time, major competitors with TSR. The rise of LARPing (Live Action Role Playing) and increased interest in the more modern "romantic" image of vampires and the supernatural fed White Wolf's initial popularity, but when a titan stumbles all feel the shock.
The new D&D is (this is true of 4th edition and was true of 3/3.5), in all likelihood, more popular than its closest competitors by probably a greater margin than ever. In this sense it's pretty much the standard.
So there's your background. I'll be more brief for future games, I promise, but I felt I needed to explain the game to help flesh out the character to go with it.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
PC Project - beginnings - D&D 3.5
I decided to start with an easy one, especially considering the JavaScript web creation tool found here. Here is a Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 character. Everyone knows D&D 3.5 so I'm not going to go into much detail except to say that it's yesterday's standard for fantasy heartbreakers. 4th edition is the standard for today, but I don't have that, so 3.5 it is!
I rolled stats using the standard method (which, I believe, is 4d6, drop the lowest number, and then assign as you like) and then had to think about what I wanted to make. The roll wasn't super, but it wasn't too bad, either; very much on the positive side of middle of the road. I kinda like Clerics and find them under-appreciated even though they can be quite potent characters. Though I had no particular deity in mind, I decided to make a Cleric who was less a healer and perhaps more a protector.
After assigning his stats based on my gut instinct, this fellow is not a particularly potent warrior or thinker, though methinks his instincts are quite good. Mostly he should be a survivor. I decided to make his Cleric spell foci Magic and Protection, just to keep things interesting. His skills reflect his interest in magic and religion and his propensity to pay attention. Alas, I was less creative with his feats. They are largely combat/adventuring focused.
I have no idea if he could actually afford the equipment I gave him, though I certainly kept it reasonable.
And so Azual the Protector sallies forth in search of... being shelved for a later date. There's no way I can play everyone I make. So what character comes next? No idea! Stay tuned to find out!
Azual the Protector
Azual's Equipment:
I rolled stats using the standard method (which, I believe, is 4d6, drop the lowest number, and then assign as you like) and then had to think about what I wanted to make. The roll wasn't super, but it wasn't too bad, either; very much on the positive side of middle of the road. I kinda like Clerics and find them under-appreciated even though they can be quite potent characters. Though I had no particular deity in mind, I decided to make a Cleric who was less a healer and perhaps more a protector.
After assigning his stats based on my gut instinct, this fellow is not a particularly potent warrior or thinker, though methinks his instincts are quite good. Mostly he should be a survivor. I decided to make his Cleric spell foci Magic and Protection, just to keep things interesting. His skills reflect his interest in magic and religion and his propensity to pay attention. Alas, I was less creative with his feats. They are largely combat/adventuring focused.
I have no idea if he could actually afford the equipment I gave him, though I certainly kept it reasonable.
And so Azual the Protector sallies forth in search of... being shelved for a later date. There's no way I can play everyone I make. So what character comes next? No idea! Stay tuned to find out!
Male Human Cleric 1
Neutral Good
|
|
Domains: Knowledge Protection
Energy: Positive [Healing / Turns Undead]
Total Hit Points: 10
Speed: 30 feet
Armor Class: 16 = 10 +4 [chain shirt] +2 [dexterity]
- Touch AC: 12
Flat-footed: 14
| Initiative modifier: | +2 | = +2 [dexterity] |
| Fortitude save: | +4 | = 2 [base] +2 [constitution] |
| Reflex save: | +2 | = 0 [base] +2 [dexterity] |
| Will save: | +5 | = 2 [base] +3 [wisdom] |
| Attack (handheld): | +0 | = 0 [base] |
| Attack (unarmed): | +0 | = 0 [base] |
| Attack (missile): | +2 | = 0 [base] +2 [dexterity] |
| Grapple check: | +0 | = 0 [base] |
| Light load: Medium load: Heavy load: Lift over head: Lift off ground: Push or drag: | 33 lb. or less 34-66 lb. 67-100 lb. 100 lb. 200 lb. 500 lb. |
| Languages: | Common |
Light Mace [1d6, crit x2, 1 lb, light, bludgeoning]
Sling [1d4, crit x2, range inc. 50 ft., 0 lb, bludgeoning]
Chain shirt [light; +4 AC; max dex +4; check penalty -2; 25 lb.]
Feats:
| Combat Casting | |
| Improved Turning |
Traits:
Ability | Modifier | Modifier | Modifier | ||
| Appraise | Int | 0 = | |||
| Balance | Dex* | 2 = | |||
| Bluff | Cha | 1 = | |||
| Climb | Str* | 0 = | |||
| Concentration | Con | 4 = | +2 | ||
| Craft_1 | Int | 0 = | |||
| Craft_2 | Int | 0 = | |||
| Craft_3 | Int | 0 = | |||
| Diplomacy | Cha | 1 = | |||
| Disguise | Cha | 1 = | |||
| Escape Artist | Dex* | 2 = | |||
| Forgery | Int | 0 = | |||
| Gather Information | Cha | 1 = | |||
| Heal | Wis | 5 = | +2 | ||
| Hide | Dex* | 2 = | |||
| Intimidate | Cha | 1 = | |||
| Jump | Str* | 0 = | |||
| Knowledge (arcana) | Int | 1 = | +1 | ||
| Knowledge (religion) | Int | 3 = | +3 | ||
| Listen | Wis | 3 = | |||
| Move Silently | Dex* | 2 = | |||
| Perform_1 | Cha | 1 = | |||
| Perform_2 | Cha | 1 = | |||
| Perform_3 | Cha | 1 = | |||
| Perform_4 | Cha | 1 = | |||
| Perform_5 | Cha | 1 = | |||
| Ride | Dex | 2 = | |||
| Search | Int | 0 = | |||
| Sense Motive | Wis | 3 = | |||
| Spot | Wis | 5 = | +2 | ||
| Survival | Wis | 3 = | |||
| Swim | Str** | 0 = | |||
| Use Rope | Dex | 2 = |
* = check penalty for wearing armor
Zero-level Cleric spells: 3 per day
First-level Cleric spells: 2 (1+1) per day +1 from a domain:
Human:
- Extra feat at first level (already included)
- Four extra skill points at first level (already included)
- One extra skill point at each additional level (already included)
- Alignment Aura
- Spontaneous Casting (heal)
- Turn Undead (4x/day)
- High wisdom gains bonus spells daily
- Domain choices give additional abilities
| Class | HP rolled | ||
| Level 1: | Cleric | 8 |
| 26 lb 10 lb 1 lb 2 lb _____ 39 lb | Weapons / Armor / Shield (from above) Sling bullets (group of 10) x2 Holy symbol (silver) Spell component pouch Total |
I, too, can do a PC Project!
Per Chris Chalfant's Great PC Project, I, too, shall embark on the dangerous quest of slowly, but surely, making characters for all the RPGs on my shelf. Anything marked purely as a supplement or setting without core rules will get ignored (or incorporated into the character made with the core rules). Anything with complete rules gets a character, including varied games that happen to use the same system. I'm anticipating 20 characters here, and I'm not touching the free RPGs I've been hoarding.
All starting characters, all RPGs, all wasted blog space and time. Who's with me? I am! Report back shortly for character #1.
Edit:
Holy moley, Batman! I just went through my RPGs and I apparently have something of a task ahead. I'm trying to decide if I should go by genre, by system, or simply by age. Any suggestions? I suppose not, since nobody reads this.
D&D 3.0/3.5 - Done!
AD&D 2E
Arcana Evolved/Unearthed
Castles and Crusades
Babylon 5 D20
Ex Machina D20 Cyberpunk
Dreaming Cities D20 Urban Fantasy
The Authority RPG (TriStat)
Big Eyes Small Mouth 2nd ed, revised
GURPS 3rd ed
Gatecrasher
Heavy Gear (1st ed?) (Silhouette)
Jovian Chronicles (1st ed?) (Silhouette)
Project A-Ko
Fuzion Core Rules (generic)
Champions: New Millenium (Fuzion)
Bubblegum Crisis (Fuzion)
Votoms (Fuzion)
Sengoku (Fuzion, mostly)
Xenomorph Invasion (Fuzion, mostly)
Artesia (Fuzion, somewhat)
Mekton Z
Earthdawn (1st ed? FASA, on CD)
All starting characters, all RPGs, all wasted blog space and time. Who's with me? I am! Report back shortly for character #1.
Edit:
Holy moley, Batman! I just went through my RPGs and I apparently have something of a task ahead. I'm trying to decide if I should go by genre, by system, or simply by age. Any suggestions? I suppose not, since nobody reads this.
D&D 3.0/3.5 - Done!
AD&D 2E
Arcana Evolved/Unearthed
Castles and Crusades
Babylon 5 D20
Ex Machina D20 Cyberpunk
Dreaming Cities D20 Urban Fantasy
The Authority RPG (TriStat)
Big Eyes Small Mouth 2nd ed, revised
GURPS 3rd ed
Gatecrasher
Heavy Gear (1st ed?) (Silhouette)
Jovian Chronicles (1st ed?) (Silhouette)
Project A-Ko
Fuzion Core Rules (generic)
Champions: New Millenium (Fuzion)
Bubblegum Crisis (Fuzion)
Votoms (Fuzion)
Sengoku (Fuzion, mostly)
Xenomorph Invasion (Fuzion, mostly)
Artesia (Fuzion, somewhat)
Mekton Z
Earthdawn (1st ed? FASA, on CD)
Monday, January 12, 2009
The increasing cost of the classic geek pasttime
Yeah, unless you played D&D as a kid, you might want to skip this one.
When I was a kid it was only through a friend and SSI computer games that I discovered Dungeons and Dragons. By the time I stumbled onto it Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition had been in print for a couple years or so. I thought it was great. I didn't play it nearly enough considering my fondness for it. Part of that had to do with time constraints and part with my somewhat limited social scope. Sure, the books were expensive for a kid, but I managed to accumulate enough money to get the core books, the Player's Hand Book, the Dungeon Master's Guide, and the loose-leaf edition of the Monstrous Compendium. This was everything an enterprising player needed.
TSR, AD&D's publisher, was, at the time was pushing heavily into book publishing. No, not rule books, but fiction. The Dragonlance novels were selling like hotcakes and the company was eager to tie the novels into the game and vice versa. Campaign settings (basically fictional worlds in a box meant to be used in combination with the core rule books) started coming out all over the place. Some were great quality but others should never have been put on the market. The rules were expanded, too. A softcover book with advanced, optional rules and gimmicks was published for every single character class and character race. You had the book of Warrior, Dwarves, Elves, Thieves, Priests, and so on, all additional purchases. There were some interesting ideas in these books, but not enough that each needed an entire volume.
Basically, TSR wanted money, and their way of making money was releasing product. This tactic clearly worked as then president Lorraine Williams sold the company with $30 million in debt to Wizards of the Coast. But what effect did this have on the players? Suddenly trying to role-play was paralyzing. You had the core rules, sure, but did you want to create your own setting and background for gaming or did you want to throw some money at one of ten or more pre-made settings, with their own published adventures and additional supplements? And if a player came to the game with one of the optional rule books and the DM didn't have that book, they risked seeming closed-minded by not allowing the Elven Blade Singer kit, even if they later discovered that particular kit was horribly unbalanced and in desperate need of nerfing.
People felt obligated to buy these books, because that was the cost of staying on top of the game. So what if the core 3 books gave you enough to start and you could just create your own? Someone else went and created something cool for you! TSR folded because the hobby was getting too expensive and confusing for the people who wanted to play.
That same thing is happening again. When WoTC released D&D 3rd edition there was a hubbub because people don't like change. I was one of those. It was probably just as much that I didn't want to spend more money. And with this 3rd edition, once again there were the 3 core books. They were all you needed. But they did publish more, of course, though they simplified the available campaign settings. They made some moves to open the rules, but it got the best of them, and by the time the 3.5 edition was released they were headed full-steam into releasing tons more books, none of which anybody truly needed but which their financial bottom line demanded.
The insanity is happening yet again, believe it or not. 4th edition was released not long ago, and again you can buy 3 core books. But there will be more core books. The current Monster Manual has a careful selection of monsters, with old stalwarts, like frost giants, left out. Why? So that when they release Monster Manual II it's not seen as an optional Monster Manual book, but rather another core book. D&D 4th edition doesn't have 3 core books; it has 3 core book lines. As Player's Handbook II and Dungeon Master's Guide II are released, as they were with 3.5, they will no longer be optional rules and expanded play styles. They will contain core mechanics and core character options deliberately left out of the first release core books. Dungeons and Dragons is now, more than ever, a subscription game. You don't buy the books and go play. You subscribe to the game, pay your yearly fees for the right to get new rules revisions and content, and come back every year to pay your dues unless you want to be left behind and cursed with not only the label "role-playing dork" or "gamer", you'll be an outdated "gamer". WoTC, and now Hasbro, who bought WoTC, have also put increasing focus on tactical battle rules with miniatures and the like. That also increases the cost. D&D is less about role-playing now than it ever was. It's more about tactical battles strung together by story segments.
If you want to get an idea of what it can cost to play D&D, check out this picture I found from WikiMedia. The books, die, mechanical pencils, and VERY faux velvet die bags are all standard fare going back many years, but what's with all the plastic on the table? I wonder what it cost them to play that single battle.
I have nothing against releasing new product or wanting to sell to make money, but none of this behavior expands the market. In fact, this transforming of a creative, social, imagination-reliant game into a book mill puts the game out of reach of some of the young folks who should be making up a good portion of the future of the game. Instead of producing new fans they are simply trying to milk everything they can out of the old fans. But when the old fans are squeezed dry the company will be hard pressed to find anyone else, because they haven't offered a reasonable entry point to role playing.
The key to a healthy role-playing environment is thus the distinction of a reasonable, essential core of books from an ever growing base of interesting but clearly optional expansion books. As expansions introduce new rules and content worthy of being included in the core, core supplements can be released, and once enough core changes are made, release a new edition. Hey, change ain't all bad. That way someone new to role-playing can just pick up the latest edition of the core books and possibly a supplement and be ready to go. The optional books? Each group or player can decide what they want, but as they're clearly optional they will have to petition the DM and other players and lay out the case for the optional rules.
I still love role-playing, even though I have less time now than ever to do it. I wish I could play more; I wish I knew more people to play with. I still buy a book occasionally and read it, though it's been a long time since I purchased a D&D book. It's nice to see what other ways of playing are out there and what ideas others have brought to this social enterprise. Other companies have managed to grasp that pricing out your players does not a healthy market make, except that they have to compete with the 800 lb gorilla of D&D for market share. D&D is no longer the best game on the market. It's not even the most approachable. It's certainly one of the more expensive, but now that Hasbro owns D&D what can you do?
When I was a kid it was only through a friend and SSI computer games that I discovered Dungeons and Dragons. By the time I stumbled onto it Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition had been in print for a couple years or so. I thought it was great. I didn't play it nearly enough considering my fondness for it. Part of that had to do with time constraints and part with my somewhat limited social scope. Sure, the books were expensive for a kid, but I managed to accumulate enough money to get the core books, the Player's Hand Book, the Dungeon Master's Guide, and the loose-leaf edition of the Monstrous Compendium. This was everything an enterprising player needed.
TSR, AD&D's publisher, was, at the time was pushing heavily into book publishing. No, not rule books, but fiction. The Dragonlance novels were selling like hotcakes and the company was eager to tie the novels into the game and vice versa. Campaign settings (basically fictional worlds in a box meant to be used in combination with the core rule books) started coming out all over the place. Some were great quality but others should never have been put on the market. The rules were expanded, too. A softcover book with advanced, optional rules and gimmicks was published for every single character class and character race. You had the book of Warrior, Dwarves, Elves, Thieves, Priests, and so on, all additional purchases. There were some interesting ideas in these books, but not enough that each needed an entire volume.
Basically, TSR wanted money, and their way of making money was releasing product. This tactic clearly worked as then president Lorraine Williams sold the company with $30 million in debt to Wizards of the Coast. But what effect did this have on the players? Suddenly trying to role-play was paralyzing. You had the core rules, sure, but did you want to create your own setting and background for gaming or did you want to throw some money at one of ten or more pre-made settings, with their own published adventures and additional supplements? And if a player came to the game with one of the optional rule books and the DM didn't have that book, they risked seeming closed-minded by not allowing the Elven Blade Singer kit, even if they later discovered that particular kit was horribly unbalanced and in desperate need of nerfing.
People felt obligated to buy these books, because that was the cost of staying on top of the game. So what if the core 3 books gave you enough to start and you could just create your own? Someone else went and created something cool for you! TSR folded because the hobby was getting too expensive and confusing for the people who wanted to play.
That same thing is happening again. When WoTC released D&D 3rd edition there was a hubbub because people don't like change. I was one of those. It was probably just as much that I didn't want to spend more money. And with this 3rd edition, once again there were the 3 core books. They were all you needed. But they did publish more, of course, though they simplified the available campaign settings. They made some moves to open the rules, but it got the best of them, and by the time the 3.5 edition was released they were headed full-steam into releasing tons more books, none of which anybody truly needed but which their financial bottom line demanded.
The insanity is happening yet again, believe it or not. 4th edition was released not long ago, and again you can buy 3 core books. But there will be more core books. The current Monster Manual has a careful selection of monsters, with old stalwarts, like frost giants, left out. Why? So that when they release Monster Manual II it's not seen as an optional Monster Manual book, but rather another core book. D&D 4th edition doesn't have 3 core books; it has 3 core book lines. As Player's Handbook II and Dungeon Master's Guide II are released, as they were with 3.5, they will no longer be optional rules and expanded play styles. They will contain core mechanics and core character options deliberately left out of the first release core books. Dungeons and Dragons is now, more than ever, a subscription game. You don't buy the books and go play. You subscribe to the game, pay your yearly fees for the right to get new rules revisions and content, and come back every year to pay your dues unless you want to be left behind and cursed with not only the label "role-playing dork" or "gamer", you'll be an outdated "gamer". WoTC, and now Hasbro, who bought WoTC, have also put increasing focus on tactical battle rules with miniatures and the like. That also increases the cost. D&D is less about role-playing now than it ever was. It's more about tactical battles strung together by story segments.
If you want to get an idea of what it can cost to play D&D, check out this picture I found from WikiMedia. The books, die, mechanical pencils, and VERY faux velvet die bags are all standard fare going back many years, but what's with all the plastic on the table? I wonder what it cost them to play that single battle.
I have nothing against releasing new product or wanting to sell to make money, but none of this behavior expands the market. In fact, this transforming of a creative, social, imagination-reliant game into a book mill puts the game out of reach of some of the young folks who should be making up a good portion of the future of the game. Instead of producing new fans they are simply trying to milk everything they can out of the old fans. But when the old fans are squeezed dry the company will be hard pressed to find anyone else, because they haven't offered a reasonable entry point to role playing.
The key to a healthy role-playing environment is thus the distinction of a reasonable, essential core of books from an ever growing base of interesting but clearly optional expansion books. As expansions introduce new rules and content worthy of being included in the core, core supplements can be released, and once enough core changes are made, release a new edition. Hey, change ain't all bad. That way someone new to role-playing can just pick up the latest edition of the core books and possibly a supplement and be ready to go. The optional books? Each group or player can decide what they want, but as they're clearly optional they will have to petition the DM and other players and lay out the case for the optional rules.
I still love role-playing, even though I have less time now than ever to do it. I wish I could play more; I wish I knew more people to play with. I still buy a book occasionally and read it, though it's been a long time since I purchased a D&D book. It's nice to see what other ways of playing are out there and what ideas others have brought to this social enterprise. Other companies have managed to grasp that pricing out your players does not a healthy market make, except that they have to compete with the 800 lb gorilla of D&D for market share. D&D is no longer the best game on the market. It's not even the most approachable. It's certainly one of the more expensive, but now that Hasbro owns D&D what can you do?
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